That’s the beautiful thing about being human, how flawed we all are and yet how infinite we have the potential to be. When we see our society sick, it is time to acknowledge our mistakes and make amends to what we’ve destroyed, the strand of the braid we haven’t been including as dutifully as we could be.

In today's blog post, SVS's Ashley Childs reflects on the importance of considering community well-being in cumulative effects assessments. At SVS, we look beyond the assessment, and help Nations and communities use the results to support self-determination and make action-oriented goals for protection and management of their Territories. This approach supports community well-being, which is considered at every stage of our work.  Check out our Cumulative Effects Services here.

Introduction

You know that feeling, deep in your solar plexus or in the pit of your stomach when something just feels off, out of alignment, like the wheel bearing in your car is about to let go? I imagine that’s how our world has felt for quite some time. I imagine it feels like a lot has been done without too much consideration. I wonder what our environment would say to us, if we could hear. When we consider the impacts of cumulative effects without giving weight to the potential impacts on our wellbeing, I get the same feeling. Something just feels off, out of alignment. To me, it’s the lack of connection (or willingness to acknowledge), the impacts from development can have on our lives.

I attended a conference a couple months ago and was entranced with a story shared by an elder. The story of many strands coming together: braiding. The elder shared with us that if one strand is not included in the braid, or if it’s broken or torn, the whole braid will remain off balance if the tear is not mended. For me, this immediately sparked a link to how we consider the impacts of cumulative effects in our assessments. If one piece is not included, for example lack of consideration for our wellbeing and/or spirit, the rest will remain off balance - our health, spirits, mental stability, economics, and environment.

One of the lessons I’ve picked up along my journey has been, if our earth is sick, we will be sick. For me, it’s felt like mother earth has been screaming, pleading for us to listen with the increase in forest fires, floods, extreme weather conditions, showing us how sick she is. We see this within our collective as mental health crisis and suicide rates increase, addiction and homelessness plague our families, friends and communities, and our ability to feed and nourish ourselves in a sustainable manner is questioned regularly. The way we are doing things is not working.

So how do we do things differently by assessing cumulative effects to our wellbeing?

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) provides a Western-science framework for effects assessment in its Policy Framework for Assessing Cumulative Effects under the Impact Assessment Act. It defines “effects” as changes to the environment or to health, social or economic conditions and the positive and negative consequences of those changes (2023). I am heartened by this holistic definition that includes social and health conditions.

However, while IAAC provides a full guidance document on how to assess cumulative effects on the environment, there is no specific guidance provided on how to go about assessing cumulative social or health effects. One option is to apply IAAC’s technical guidance document using social or health related Valued Components (VCs).

In the absence of guidance, several Indigenous Nations and organizations across Turtle Island are developing their own approaches to assessing cumulative effects from a more holistic standpoint.

Tŝilhqot’in Research: Social Impacts are Context-Specific and Values Based

The Tŝilhqot’in National Government (TNG) Nen (Water, Lands, and Resources) Department and the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Environmental Assessment Research (CEAR) completed a two year-research project that focused on processes and methods for assessing cumulative social effects. Throughout their research, they identified that cumulative social change is context specific and values based. They also identified that, in order to understand social impacts, it requires us to identify how individuals and communities experience the changes to their environment and social systems.

The Incorporating Social Impacts into Cumulative Effects Assessment: Lessons and Best Practices report by Tsinlhqox Biny, (Chilko Lake), identifies “a problem with this project-based focus is that it may leave out the real-world cumulative effects that could result from the project in combination with other projects and impacts (2023).”

Blueberry River Case Includes Culture and Way of Life

In the Blueberry River First Nation court case, known formally as Yahey v. British Columbia, the court found that the Province of British Columbia had breached its obligations to Blueberry under Treaty 8. The ruling found that the province had unjustifiably infringed Blueberry’s treaty rights by permitting the cumulative impacts of industrial development such that it has meaningfully diminished Blueberry’s ability to exercise its treaty rights to hunt, trap, harvest, and fish in their Traditional Territory. Some key evidence in the court proceedings included:

• Historical and legal context
• Environmental impact assessments
• Cumulative effects reports
• Traditional land use studies
• Cultural and socio-economic studies
• Maps and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Expert testimonies from technical experts
• Community testimonies from Elders and Knowledge Holders

The culmination of evidence in the form of technical studies, Traditional Knowledge and Oral History ruled in favour of Blueberry River First Nation and has set a significant legal precedent for Indigenous Rights and environmental protection in Canada. In January of 2023, Blueberry River First Nation and the Province of B.C. announced an Implementation Agreement in response to the 2021 B.C. Supreme Court decision. The agreement will address the cumulative impacts to the land from decades of industrial development, and approach land management in a manner that balances long-term sustainability, Indigenous culture and way of life, and economic development of a lighter environmental footprint.

A Sense of Pervasive Uneasiness

The Shared Value Solutions team have worked closely with several Indigenous Nations over the years on this topic. In one recent project, the community’s main objective was to map the location of developments such as mining or forestry to get an idea of how far impacts were extending, how much we should buffer features, and what the features of priority were to protect or manage. Through our conversations, people described what the cumulative impact to them looks and feels like on the ground. They said it is something that is always present, instead of just present in certain areas. They talked about feeling uneasy around developments, but also feeling uneasy even in 'good' areas because they are more crowded, unsure if they've been sprayed or contaminated, and uncertain about if or when they will be impacted the same as other areas. While we didn't ask community members directly about social or health impacts for this study, the oral history and Indigenous knowledge that emerged was loud and clear.

Mapping Intersections Between Development and “Natural” Events

In a project with a BC client, SVS began by conducting a preliminary mapping and analysis exercise of cumulative land disturbances, and scoping interviews with community members to determine how to do future community engagement for the project. This resulted in an initial summary report and map of land disturbances and a qualitative analysis of cumulative impacts as experienced by community members.

Following the initial project phase, the project team conducted a broader round of engagement with community members to understand how they experienced impacts from land disturbances. Community members talked about the impacts they experienced and importantly, how far away from the development area they experienced those impacts.  This community testimony helped the SVS team set buffer distances beyond the footprints of land disturbance, that showed the impact area.  The data from these engagements were spatially analyzed to create detailed maps that show both the land disturbances and their spatial impacts, as experienced by the Territory’s members. Natural phenomena, including forest fires and flooding were included in the analysis. The project team found that a significant percentage (approximately two thirds) of the traditional Territory had been impacted by human disturbances and natural events. For example, mining, forestry, roads, railways, and agriculture are activities that can have impacts beyond the territory they physically change. The footprint of these activities does not capture their interactions with natural events. Things like forest fires, flooding, and warmer weather have had increasingly severe environmental effects due to climate change. Natural events like these can increase the effects – the impacts – of human activity on lands and waters.  This second phase of the project resulted in a map atlas and report, and spatial data to support the community’s Lands Department in prioritizing land management activities, identifying areas for protection and restoration, and determining how to respond to requests for consultation in different areas of the community’s traditional territory.

The final phase of the project was to set up an online mapping database with all of the spatial data to further support the community’s Lands Department in prioritizing land management activities and triaging requests. This online tool will continue to serve the Lands Department in day-to-day tasks as well as longer term projects focused on land management.

Indigenous-led approaches to cumulative effects

In summary, here are some Indigenous-led approaches to cumulative effects we are seeing:

1. Oral history / Indigenous Knowledge collection about how development has impacted people to help prioritize decision-making around development projects and management of cumulative effects.

2. Development of VCs that have a more social, cultural or health aspect to them and then seeking to understand key environmental effects on those specific VCs in conjunction with other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable physical activities.

3. Development of detailed maps demonstrating disturbances and spatial impacts to assist in prioritization of activities and consultation requests.

In my opinion, Indigenous-Led Impact Assessments are the way forward to address the inadequacies in the standard cumulative effects assessments to ensure careful consideration is given to each area of focus and especially, to our collective wellbeing.

There is a yin and yang in all things we do. A balance of the scales that needs to be considered. I fear, if we continue to ignore our wellbeing in our development equations, the balance we require to be a healthy society becomes further out of our reach.

I envision a society that gives equal weight to our emotional and mental wellbeing as it does to our economic prosperity when considering whether or not development should be pursued. Imagine living in a world where wellbeing mattered as much as economic success.

That’s the beautiful thing about being human, how flawed we all are and yet how infinite we have the potential to be. When we see our society sick, it is time to acknowledge our mistakes and make amends to what we’ve destroyed, the strand of the braid we haven’t been including as dutifully we could be.

I ask of you, to envision a country that allows for us to be our most authentic, our most connected, most healthy – in body, mind and spirit and ask yourself, how do we get there? How can I help us get there?

Are you shaking things up in this space? Are you doing something innovative in your community when it comes to how to assess development decisions? Do you have an idea you want to chat about? If so, please get in touch with us. We would love to hear from you.

References:

• CumulativeSocialEffects_ExecutiveSummary (canada.ca)

• Policy Framework for Assessing Cumulative Effects under the Impact Assessment Act - Canada.ca

• Technical Guidance for Assessing Cumulative Environmental Effects under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012

SVS Staff Who Contributed to this article: 

• Laura Taylor
• Nichole Fraser
• Joanne Shantz
• Jessica Steiner
• Andrew Peach

About the Author:

About Us: Shared Value Solutions

We are a Canadian B Corp, and we assist Indigenous communities with support throughout regulatory processes surrounding major development projects like mines, hydroelectric facilities, transmission lines, highway expansions, oil and gas pipelines, natural resource transport applications and nuclear power. 

We have deep context and experience behind the recommendations we provide, having worked for our clients on almost every major project in Canada over the last 10 years. For us, it’s all about building long-term relationships with our clients. We want to get to know you and what you want to do so we can help you move your plans forward. 

• Reviews of Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements

• Indigenous Land Use Studies, Indigenous Knowledge Studies, Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Studies, Community Cultural Values Mapping

• Strategic Regulatory and Environmental Assessment Process Support

• First Nation Environmental Management Planning

• First Nation Land Code communities
• Indigenous Guardian programs
• Impact Benefit Agreements: technical and regulatory support for negotiations
• Indigenous Jurisdiction initiatives: joint management agreements and co-management agreements
• Community-based Indigenous environmental monitoring
• Indigenous Land Use Planning
• Participant funding negotiation and application support
• Multimedia Storytelling